One Tin Soldier Rides Away
by Rhys
Summary: Piotr gave his life because of how much he loved his little Snowflakehere's how she feels about it. Completed.
1. Default Chapter

**DISCLAIMER**: Nobody here is mine, I didn't even make any of 'em up. They all belong to Marvel, Stan, Joe, Chris, and the rest of the gang. As you can tell from where you are, this is fanfiction, it never happened. (And, yes, I AM aware that Illyana is dead. So sue me.) The song used here belongs to Joan Baez, and it's used because it was referenced in the story itself.

**Spoilers** for UNCANNY X-MEN #390 (and ASTONISHING X-MEN later). Anyway, this doesn't really take place in the continuum anywhere, but kind of in between said issue and _One Tin Soldier Rides Away_, #110, and focuses on Illyana (who, yes, I do know is dead).

Listen, children,  
to a story,  
that was written  
long ago,  
about a kingdom,  
on a mountain,  
and the valley  
folk below.

On the mountain,  
was a treasure,  
buried deep  
beneath the stone.  
And the valley  
people swore  
they'd have it  
for their very own.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,  
go ahead and cheat a friend,  
do it in the name of heaven  
you can justify it in the end.

There won't be any trumpets blowing  
come the Judgement Day  
on that bloody morning afternoon  
One Tin Soldier Rides Away.

My name is Illyana Rasputin. My big brother is Piotr—_Colossus_. He's what people call "_homo superior_"—mutants. Lots of people are afraid of mutants. But they've never met my brother. Cause if they had they wouldn't be afraid any more. Because my brother is a hero , he's one of the good guys. I was never scared, because I always knew that he would be there to take care of me, to protect me. A great big knight in shinning armor that would never, ever let anything bad happen to me, to _anybody_, if he could ever do anything to stop it. _Ever_. And he did, with the X-Men. He saved everybody, the whole world, over and over and over again. Why? Because he's a hero. It doesn't matter if anybody ever said _thank you_. He said _you're welcome_, anyway. Because that's what people like him did, that's what heroes did.

When Professor Xavier came halfway around the world to our home in Siberia, he didn't come to find just some little toy soldier, he came to find my brother. The hero. He knew that my brother would help him save the world, because that's what heroes did. The Professor talked with papa and Piotr, and even though Piotr wanted to stay, he didn't. He went because he could help people, because there were people who needed help, and he could save them. Because that's what heroes did. They risked everything to save people they had never met, who probably wouldn't even say _thank you_, but needed help all the same.

And every now and then, that risking everything caught up with even the bravest heroes.

So the people  
of the valley,  
sent a message  
up the hill,  
asking for the  
buried treasure  
tons of gold  
for which they'd kill.

Came an answer  
from the kingdom:  
With our brothers  
we will share  
all the secrets  
of our mountain,  
all the riches  
buried there.

And yesterday, that risk caught up with my brother. Turns out that Dr. McCoy—Beast, another X-Man—had found the cure for t he Legacy virus. That's what killed me. It's this disease that only affects mutants, that basically turns their own power against them and it consumes them. Piotr was ecstatic—I guess he always kind of blamed himself for my death. If there was a cure, that would mean that nobody else would ever have to die the way I had. I guess it was a way to give my death a reason that he could understand. In any case, it would mean that I wouldn't really have died "in vain"… But then they found the catch. Stryfe, this madman who had created the Legacy Virus, had made a cure that would require the death of somebody. Beast was crushed, but my brother…my brother wouldn't stand for it. He couldn't wait for even on more hour while somebody else was dying from the disease, not if there was a way—_any _way—for him to stop it. Like I said, he's a hero. And sometimes, a hero has to make sacrifices to save a lot of other people. And they have to take risks, risks that other people wouldn't understand. Sacrifices that would leave them gaping in confusion and… Well, that's what my brother did. He made a sacrifice. The cure needed somebody to die for it to work. That's what my brother gave it. It took a life, so he gave it his.

Now the valley  
cried with anger  
mount your horses  
draw your sword.  
And they killed  
the mountain people  
so they won their  
just reward.

Now they stood  
beside the treasure  
on the mountain  
dark and red.

Turned the stone and  
looked beneath it.

Peace on Earth  
was all it said.

Now my brother is coming home. I can see him, through the snowstorm. A brilliant knight in shinning armor. A _hero_. I always knew that he'd always protect me from everything. And the one thing that he _couldn't _protect me from…? He just found out how to. Everyone will classify my brother's action as _heroic_, of course. They just don't know how heroic it really _is_. I can hear him now, calling. _Snowflake_, he says happily, _I am coming home. _I can see his friends, Kitty, Beast, Professor Xavier, as they all watch the one tin soldier ride away…


	2. Chapter 2

And then it broke.

My brother's face twisted in pain. _Snowflake!_ he cried and stretched out his arms to me and I to him but he was swept away. He screamed again and I screamed with him and then there was only blackness as he was ripped from me. I shouted his name and I wept.

But I was alone.


End file.
